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Artificial Arteries Grown in the Laboratory

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have recently succeeded in growing artificial arteries using the muscle cells of baboons. The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The protein elastin which causes the blood vessels to either expand or contract in response to blood flow is found to be in sufficient amounts in these arteries. They can take up blood pressure any where between 200 and 300 millimeters of mercury. The magnitude of this parameter in health individuals is 120 mm of mercury.

A naturally found substance collagen is also present up to 10 percent in these laboratory grown arteries. As a next stage of this research, the expert want to create vessels which would resemble the three levels structure of the arteries in humans.

The study is supported through the grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.